The stamps are scarce to rare, but forgeries, of which at least 12 complete sets are known, are quite common. Furthermore, genuine stamps with forged or bogus cancellations are known to exist.
PLATING CHARACTERISTICS
THE 1c, 5c and 40c stones were all derived from blocks of four of the 20c stone. There are thus only four types of each of these three values, each type having characteristic plate flaws as shown below. If your stamp cannot be assigned a type (and is, of course, a 1c, 5c, or 40c), then it is a forgery.
| TYPE A | TYPE B | TYPE C | TYPE D |
| ONE CENT | |||
 Dot over the ‘S’ of “SUEZ”. Low dot before the ‘C’ of “CANAL”. Two dots over second ‘A’ of “CANAL” |
 Small line after ‘E’ of “DE”. Spike protruding from the ‘L’ of “CANAL” |
 Spike protruding into ‘D’ of “DE”. Damaged crossbar in first ‘A’ of “CANAL” |
 High dot before the ‘C’ of “CANAL”. Broadened centre line of ‘E’ in “MARITIME” |
| FIVE CENT | |||
 Two lines, in front of and into the ‘R’ of “MARITIME”. Dot on centre line of ‘E’ of “MARITIME”. |
 Break in line going up to aft-mast on ship. |
 Dot on downward line of second ‘A’ and on right-most serif of ‘L’ in “CANAL”. High dot before ‘D’ of “DE” |
 Diagonal line from right-most serif of ‘N’ of “CANAL”. Dot in horizontal line under ‘P’ OF “POSTES”. |
| FORTY CENT | |||
 Broken crossbar in ‘T’ OF “MARITIME”. Long ‘T’ in “POSTES”. |
 Dot above ‘E’ of “SUEZ” and between the lines below the ‘E’ of “MARITIME”. Dot between ropes at front of ship. |
 Thickened ‘D’ in “DE”. Broken ‘T’ in “POSTES”. broken line up to aft-mast on ship. |
 Thickened vertical in ‘E’ of “SUEZ”. |
This stamp that appears to be genuine. The gum is yellow and cracked (trust me!) while the stamp itself passes all the usual tests for genuineness and, furthermore, can be plated as a type ‘C’ (The dot in front of “DE” and the distortions in the second “A” and “L” of “CANAL”).
This stamp also seems to be genuine. There is no gum; otherwise, all tests are passed; the stamp can be plated as a type ‘A’ (the two lines in front of and into the “R” and the dot on the centre line of the “E” of “MARITIME”).
THE FORGERIES
These stamps are amongst the most heavily forged issues in the world. There are, basically, two different classes of forgeries.
The “Reprint Forgeries” are the most dangerous. These were made from the genuine stone of the 40c stamp that had been taken from the Company archives with new values inserted as necessary. If you have a 1c or 5c stamp that shows the plating characteristics of the 40c, then you have one of these (a 20c stamp might just be one that came from a stone used to make the 40c stamps). Fortunately, these forgeries have the wrong sort of gum.
All the others. There are many ‘brands’ of varying quality, and different types of paper and gum could be used for the same ‘brand’ of forgery.
OTHER TESTS FOR GENUINENESS
The Robson Lowe Encyclopaedia of British Empire Stamps (1949 ed.) briefly lists the following criteria for GENUINE stamps:
Area between “DE SUEZ” and “POSTES” has oblique lines crossing the vertical lines.
[This is the first thing to look for!]
Both flags are single-pointed and outlined only.
Funnel often solid but shaded with vertical lines.
No man on deck behind funnel.
One man at the front end.
Clouds only light, can be absent in worn impressions.
Jean Boulard (L’OP 61, Jan.1948, p.254) lists these criteria, also for GENUINE stamps:
The space between the label containing “POSTES” and the lower part of the oval containing “DE SUEZ” is filled with lines of shading. These are both vertical and oblique lines.
The last “S” of “POSTES” is almost invariably somewhat flattened at the left of the bend of the upper loop.
On the ship there is one passenger in the bows, two between the fore and main mast, and one behind the main mast.
Behind the funnel, just to the right of the point where the lines of the rigging join the rail, there is a spot of colour which might represent a passenger.(This might be a contradiction of Robson Lowe #4). At the very stern of the ship, to the left of the rear mast, there are two spots of colour.
The funnel of the ship ia always very darkly shaded, usually solid at the left, whilst the right hand portion is made up of vertical lines of shading only. The only horizontal line appearing on the funnel is a band about half a millimetre from the top. Occasionally the funnel is a solid mass of colour.
The appendage on each side of the upper circles containing the figures of value are well drawn, and generally clear except for a dot or stroke which appears in the ball at the extremity.
Immediately above the floral appendages attached to the lower circles of value are two comma-like ornaments, the right hand one being unshaded and smaller than the one on the left.
CLOUDS: Are usually very lightly shown, but occasionally (on new plates?) quite heavy.
SMOKE: Never touches the left frame line and usually ends about 1.5 mm away, but occasionally approaches to within 0.5 mm.
GUM: Is almost always cracked. Varies in shade. Forged stamps seldom, if ever, have cracked gum; if there is any at all, it is smooth and usually white.
INK: Is always matte; never shiny. Colours can vary considerably.
1c. – Black to a rather pale grey.
5c. – From yellowish-green to a full pale green (almost a light emerald).
20c.- From deep indigo to pale dull blue.
40c.- From carmine to dull vermilion.
SOME FORGERIES
The flowerlike ornaments have 3 petals but these are incorrectly placed.
The comma at the right hand side is missing
There are four passengers ;One in the bow Two between foremast and mainmast, and One just aft of the smokestack.
There is no crosshatching above “postes”.
The appendage to the upper circles are not separated from the circles, but part of them.
The figures of value are too small; in the originals they touch the borders.
The commas above the lower value tablets are joined to the tablets (and are much larger).
The smoke goes all the way to the edge of the oval.
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